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February 7th 2018 - After serving the state for more than 90 years, the Texas State Junior Championship has earned a makeover. The Texas Junior Amateur is set to return to Horseshoe Bay Resort on July 23-25 with a new name and logo.

“We felt one of the country’s oldest and largest state championships deserved a rebranding,” Kellen Kubasak, the Legends Junior Tour Director of Operations, said. “Consistency with other leading golf organizations such as the Texas Golf Association and the USGA was one of the leading factors of changing the name.”

The championship, which has been conducted by the Legends Junior Tour since 2005, has been one of the strongest fields in recent years and produced some great champions. Last year’s winner, Jansen Smith, won in dramatic fashion after holing a 72-yard approach shot on the 18th hole at Horseshoe Bay Resort’s Summit Rock Golf Course, his 54th and final hole of the tournament.

San Angelo’s Smith won by one stroke in the 2017 installment of the event, which returned to Horseshoe Bay Resort for the seventh time in the last eight years. Austin’s Sadie Englemann won the Girls Division, holding off Dallas’ Hailey Jones, who was looking to win her third straight championship at the Slick Rock Golf Course.

The Championship was played at The Woodlands Country Club in 2016. The rain-shortened event saw a three-way tie atop the Boys Division on Friday. Logan Pate, Pierceson Coody and Parker Coody were tied at 4-under overall at The Tournament Course at The Woodlands. All three players went into a sudden-death playoff, which resulted in Pate winning with a par on the par-4 18th.

In 2015, Mason Greenberg posted rounds of 71-64-72 to win by nine strokes at Horseshoe Bay’s Ram Rock Golf Course. The second-round score of 7-under was three strokes better than the next best score in the field that week.

For the Boys division, the Texas Junior Amateur is open to all residents of Texas with players earning an exemption through the Texas Junior Golf Alliance or by competing in one of 12 qualifiers for the championship. Qualifiers are spread throughout the state and feature 18 holes of stroke play competition to get into the championship, which returns to Summit Rock Golf Course for a second straight year.

Players in the Girls Division as well as the Boys and Girls 14 & Under Divisions are entered based on the LJT Priority Entry System, which awards players that have played well in LJT events as well as Texas Junior Golf Alliance Events. The Alliance is made up of the Northern and Southern Texas PGAs along with the Houston Golf Association.

Horseshoe Bay Resort is hosting again in 2018, with the Boys Division competing on the scenic Summit Rock Golf Course and the other three divisions playing on the Slick Rock Golf Course.

The Boys and Girls Divisions are 54 holes of stroke play competition while the Boys and Girls 14 & Under Divisions are 36 holes of stroke play. All four events are ranked by Junior Golf Scoreboard and Golfweek, while the Boys and Girls Divisions are World Amateur Golf Ranked. American Junior Golf Association Performance Stars are handed out to the top finishers of each division as well as double LJT Player of the Year Points.

Registration for the Texas Junior Amateur opens on March 7, 2018. To view all the past champions of this venerable event, click here.